Or maybe Delta's just so cool, he decided to let Faiz have his story rather than make the show about him

I heard Delta is so humble, that he rewrote Inoue's KAMEN RIDER DELTA series so that it focused on Faiz instead.

It's cool, dude. I'll just wait to hear your thoughts about it in the next episode. There's very little I can say here without spoiling the big surprise for you.

Delta is so cool he saw into the future and saw Kamen Rider Kabuto and decided that they'd let that show succeed by not making it seem derivative of Inoue's Kamen Rider Delta.

Plus, Delta really fixed the ending catchphrase. "Open Your Eyes For The Next Faiz" is way better than Inoue's original choice of "It's Gonna Be A Brain Melta! The Next Delta!"

Right up front, I guess since the music has come up a few times before, I might as well mention that episode 33 debuts the show's third and final primary insert song, "EGO 〜eyes glazing over". It'll play a few more times throughout the remainder of the series, but, just like Die was maybe hoping for, the show also relaxes its rules about how often it needs to play songs a little starting here.

You know, you keep using this gag and I'm not sure how aware you actually are of this, but at the risk of spelling out a joke, the whole reason Meteor's name was Ryuusei is because it's the Japanese word for shooting star. If that shady subterranean school for orphans had a sports team, it legitimately might've been called that!

This is true to an extent, but I wouldn't underestimate how much gravity the concept of Kamen Rider Faiz is actually treated with. Takumi gave up the belt to Keitarou because he does care about it. Immensely. He's based an extraordinarily huge amount of his identity around being Faiz, the heroic protector of dreams, and him trying to completely give up on it like this is a huge sign of how deeply his failure here is affecting him. It's the ultimate sign of how rough a shape he's in right now.

Delta's still getting that treatment, yeah, but I think the show's moved well past the days of buying the Faiz Gear back from a pawn shop by now. Which is good, because if Faiz were only concerned with flippant, ironic storytelling, I wouldn't love it anywhere near as much as I do!

Ah, well that's the thing. As of this episode, Kusaka has been all three Riders on this show, so even if it is still called Kamen Rider Faiz, it's no problem at all. Remember kids, most Faiz merchandise is secretly also Kaixa merch!

Which it wouldn't be, because death is shi. Although the next episode DOES have a "shin" in there, funnily enough!

He did a great job of it, too! In fact, I heard Delta is so good at coming up with story ideas, he's the reason Agito was about three Riders. True story!

I did! And that's why it makes me laugh, that they probably had a sports team called The Ryusei School Meteors! They probably played other local schools! They always lost!

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 34

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz34a.png

--1--

If I was a betting man, my money would've been on Kusaka as a secret Orphnoch. That idea, of him being an Orphnoch who loathes other Orphnochs, it's poetic. It feels like it'd be how Kusaka would deal with his turmoil, you know?

If I was spreading that money around, I'd probably play the range of the Ryusei School alumni all being secret Orphnochs. Mari, for sure, after last episode. I mean, the first episode of the show has a dead person getting up as an Orphnoch, so why not now? Also, Orphan Daddy is a big ol' Orphnoch, and we've still got no idea what he's been up to all this time, so maybe he did some secret surgeries to make them all Orphnochs? Or there's the reunion no one will talk about, maybe they all got turned there?

So, yeah, those were my Back Of The Mind guesses. Nothing I was certain of, but definitely things I felt like the story was supporting.

Takumi, though. I mean, goddamn.

--2--

It's tough to talk too much about it, since it's really only established at the end of the episode. It's pretty heavily hinted in the middle, when Takumi goes to see Murakami, but nothing concrete. When Murakami says that Takumi can't be in Lucky Clover unless he's an Orphnoch, there's a look on Takumi's face that reads as resignation, but that resignation has two different possibilities. There's the resignation where the Smart Brain door is closed to him, and he'll have to find some other way to bring back Mari. Maybe enlist Yuuji, who's starting to think he might've misjudged Takumi? Maybe.

But there's this other read, one where I'm like Yeah But No, where Takumi has resigned himself to be outed as an Orphnoch. It crossed my mind for, like, a second, but I dismissed it. What the hell would that mean if it was true? What would it do to the show to have him be an Orphnoch in secret all this time? What lunatic would blow up his own premise like th--- oh, yeah, right, it's Faiz.

It's such a ballsy move. I don't know what it means yet, but I'm dying to find out.

--3--

It helps that it's not like the show was killing time before this reveal. Not in general for the series (well, the last couple episodes weren't my favorites), and not for this episode. There was a lot I would've normally written about this episode, before the last couple minutes played.

Stuff about how Takumi's heroism has a purity that Kusaka's lacks, based on what each man will do to save a friend. Takumi doesn't wallow in self-loathing, despite Someone Is Dead Because They Were My Friend being his worst nightmare. He gets his ass kicked by multiple people, but that's only when he thinks there's nothing left for Mari but his penance. As soon as an opportunity presents itself, he's all in. Even when it's a plan that Kusaka's like This Almost Definitely Won't Work, Takumi wants to try it anyway. And, man, Kusaka has a point about it being sort-of a leap, plan-wise, but he doesn't bail because the plan wouldn't work. He bails because if the plan does work, he can't be Kaixa anymore. He tells everyone that Mari means everything to him, but in this one he confronts the reality that he loves being Kaixa, that he wants to destroy Smart Brain, more than he loves Mari. It's a great way to reassert Takumi's core heroism at a time where he only wants to be seen as a failure, and to reassert Kusaka's selfishness when everyone views him as their savior.

Or, I could've talked about how Mari's death doesn't feel that much like a fridging, since it's not really about vengeance, it's about grief. It motivates Kusaka and Takumi to try and save her, but that's around the edges. Most of the episode is about Takumi's self-hatred and grief, or Kusaka discovering the primacy of his need to be powerful over his need to possess Mari. It succeeds dramatically by treating Mari's death as a real, sincere thing. Saving her, bringing her back, it's viewed as nearly impossible. She's allowed some dignity, rather than immediately becoming some totem of Manly Suffering. Like, her death means something because Mari meant something, not because it empowers someone else. It's a fine line, maybe, but I thought the show stayed on the right side of it.

--4--

There's also some good little bits with Kaido and Mihara, two refreshing views on empathy and responsibility.

Kaido's story is a comedy right up until it's a tragedy, which is one of my favorite moves. It's all this time swelling Kaido's head, so this kid can tell him he's not a hero, he's a failure who let the kid's parents die. Not 100% sure where this thread is going, but it's got a fun swerve to it.

Mihara, I really do love how much he doesn't want to be in a Kamen Rider story. Jesus, why would you? Every series seems to have a story about The Heavy Burden Of Being A Kamen Rider, and, like, Mihara acknowledges that! He gets it! He doesn't want that burden! It's still super funny that every other Ryusei School alumni ("Go Meteors!”) is raring to get murdered, and he's totally fine running away forever. What in the sweet hell did Orphan Daddy teach these weirdos? Were their active shooter drills about running straight at any gunman? Mihara seems like the only one who'd rather, y'know, live, so of course he's our new Delta. (TV-Nihon made this episode's splash image Delta and Mihara, so that turn in the story wasn't much of a surprise.) I liked how defensive his fighting style was, how he cowers a bit in his stance. I'm sure he'll be immolating monsters in short order, but he had a fun No Thank You aura that I dug.

--5--

Hard to talk about that other stuff, because Takumi is/was an Orphnoch! That... I feel like I've barely talked about anything else in this episode (that was largely good, save for any of the scenes with just the Ryusei kids) because, like, that ending!

(I mean, I didn't do more than touch on Yuuji starting to figure out he's been wrong about Takumi, and that's my favorite character pairing!)

Takumi's an Orphnoch!

Holy shit!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz34b.png

And this is why we all told you not to watch the movie. You would have had this plot twist spoiled six episodes early.

Mihara is an interesting character because not only is he Kamen Rider Delta's main user, but he's also one of the few Kamen Riders to have a Disney Power Rangers era-esque civilian power: the minute you stop watching Faiz you instantly forget he exists. He's like the tokusatsu version of the Silence from Doctor Who.

I mean, we'll never really know? I'm not sure I would've assumed Takumi Is An Orphnoch was something that would happen on the show. Even here, in this episode, I didn't really think it would happen until it did. When Takumi drops the belt, I just thought he was totally checked out, willing to potentially see people die rather than feel like he was absolving himself of blame. But then!

I don't know! I'm pretty into a Rider who'd really rather just go home!